For first time, registered voters top 6 million

With advanced voting heavier than in the last Quebec election, no one could be happier than Quebec’s Chief Electoral Officer.

“That’s good news for us. The greater the numbers, the better for us,” Johanne Patry, spokesperson for the Directeur général des élections (DGE), said Monday.

More than 1.1 million Quebecers had already voted before polling booths opened Monday morning. That’s 19.27 per cent of registered voters — or one in five — who took advantage of advance polls to cast their vote. That’s up from the September 2012 numbers on advance voting, which was 16.61 per cent.

The final number of people registered to vote in this election is 6,012,440, including 18,328 people from outside Quebec (most of them, 12,000 are snowbirds) and 2,750 inmates.

“That’s the first time that we’ve gone over 5.9 million registered voters,” Patry said.

But voter turnout can fluctuate in Quebec, although it’s usually strong.

Overall participation in 2012 was 74.6 per cent (three out of four voters exercised their right) compared with a low of 57.43 per cent in 2008 when Quebecers elected a Liberal majority headed by Jean Charest.

Between 1945 and 1979, the average participation rate in elections was 79.3 per cent.

By midday, preliminary voter turnout had spiked. Polling booths noted a steady stream of voters. According to the DGE, results showed that more than 41 per cent had voted by 3:30 p.m., and nearly 53 per cent by 5:30 p.m.

A preliminary report by the DGE at 9:30 p.m. said the voter turnout was nearly 63 per cent.

Political pundits suggested the election campaign became disastrous for the Parti Québécois sovereigntists. Two-thirds of Quebecers said they are not interested in another referendum. Would that translate into more voters at the polling booths?

By press time at 11:15 p.m., total voter turnout numbered 4,135,007, or 70.45 per cent.

But in the high-profile riding of Charlevoix-Côte-de-Beaupré where Pauline Marois lost, voter turnout was 73.87 per cent after 184 of 186 polling stations reporting.

The DGE’s office would not comment on a string of voting irregularities spotted throughout the day: an official ballot box at a McDonald’s in Montreal, a man with a voting card and a valid passport who was turned away, and a local businessman who had offered a day off to all his employees if the Parti Québécois doesn’t win.

Robert Cutler, the president and CEO of Delmar International Inc., a customs broker and transport company, posted an internal memo to staff on Facebook on Monday. In the event of a PQ loss, Delmar will “celebrate by allowing every Canadian employee an additional vacation day this fiscal year,” the memo said, and that owners and shareholders are “extremely proud Canadians” strongly opposed to the “current” separatist PQ government.

It’s not clear whether Cutler could be subject to a fine of up to $20,000, however Article 558 in the Quebec elections act states that anyone has violated the act if, “in order to obtain or because he has obtained a donation, loan, responsibility, job or other advantage ... incites someone to abstain from voting or vote for a certain candidate.”

But as polls closed Monday evening, Cutler posted a second memo saying his views are “personal,” employees are free to do as they choose in a democratic society, “and I apologize and regret if you or anyone felt intimidated, influenced or offended.”